Mapping Problematic Drinking Trends over Time in Urban, Semi-Urban, and Rural Populations

Current alcohol public health policy in Australia is not uniform but is generally focused on restricting access and early prevention of problematic alcohol use. Semi-urban and rural populations are at greater risk of disease and other poor health outcomes due to a variety of factors. Little is known about problematic drinking patterns over time in semi-urban and rural populations. This study aims to assess patterns of problematic drinking defined as both long-term risky and heavy episodic drinking over time by age, sex, and mental health status among urban, semi-urban and rural populations). Four waves (2004 to 2016) of the Australian NDSHS (National Drug Strategy Household Survey) were analyzed to assess problematic drinking of participants over 18 years of age. We used regression models and predictive margins to identify trends in problematic drinking over time based on age, sex, and mental health status. Our results show young adults across all regions, males, and mentally well individuals in urban areas have reductions in the risk of problematic drinking over time. Middle-aged adults across all regions, females, and those with varying mental health presentations in rural areas have some increases in risk of problematic drinking over time. The general conclusion is that targeted alcohol-related public health policy may need to change and focus on females, middle-aged individuals, and those living in rural areas. Programs to support problematic drinking in people with mental health disorders may also need to be a priority.

Rural Patients’ Perceptions of Their Potentially Preventable Hospitalisation: A Qualitative Study

Potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPHs) occur when patients receive hospital care for a condition that could have been more appropriately managed in the primary healthcare setting. It is anticipated that the causes of PPHs in rural populations may differ from those in urban populations; however, this is understudied. Semi-structured interviews with 10 rural Australian patients enabled them to describe their recent PPH experience. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify the common factors that may have led to their PPH. The analysis revealed that most participants had challenges associated with their health and its optimal self-management. Self-referral to hospital with the belief that this was the only treatment option available was also common. Most participants had limited social networks to call on in times of need or ill health. Finally, difficulty in accessing primary healthcare, especially urgently or after-hours, was described as a frequent cause of PPH. These qualitative accounts revealed that patients describe nonclinical risk factors as contributing to their recent PPH and reinforces that the views of patients should be included when designing interventions to reduce PPHs.

OBSERVATIONS, PERCEPTIONS ET ADAPTATIONS AU CHANGEMENT CLIMATIQUE DANS LA SOUS-PRÉFECTURE DE SÉGUÉLA (CÔTE D’IVOIRE)

In a context of sustainable development and food security, the fight against climate change has become a priority. In tropical rural areas, its effects are beginning to appear by affecting agricultural production, which is a factor that aggravates socio-economic impacts. Indeed, understanding the determinisms of climate change as well as their perception and the adaptation strategies developed by rural populations is an issue of food security and socio-economic development. In the sub-prefecture of Séguéla, the perceptions and adaptations to climate change of populations living from rain-fed agriculture are acute. This article analyzes on the one hand the climatic variability of this sub-prefecture based on scientific observations of the annual accumulations of precipitation from 1986 to 2015. And on the other hand, following a questionnaire survey, the perception and representation of this climatic variability as well as the strategies developed in response by farmers were noted. The main results indicate a decrease in rainfall in general modifying the crop calendar of farmers. In addition, the study attests that peasant perceptions and representations are linked to their local beliefs. This then results in dynamics and modalities of adaptation through the introduction of new cultures / associations of cultures, the development of lowlands reflecting the interactions of the peasant population with its environment.

The reasons of the implementation of the concept of smart villages in the European Union

The aim of this article is to identify the main challenges facing the rural areas in the European Union (EU) and to investigate whether implementation of the concept of smart villages makes it possible to face these challenges. These challenges are: depopulation, aging of the society, climate change, growing demand for food, environmental degradation, peripheralization or low income of rural populations, pandemic COVID-19. The first part describes the situation in rural areas, using statistical data from the reports of the European Commission and Eurostat. Then the roots of the concept of smart villages in the European Union were presented. Its six components have been identified: smart society, smart economy, smart agriculture, smart management, smart environment and smart associability. In the last part, it was checked whether the implementation of the concept of smart villages responds to the main challenges faced by rural areas.

The January 6 Insurrection: Historical and Global Contexts

The 6 January 2021, Trumpist insurrection is in continuity with centuries of white mob violence in the United States, going back to the thwarted 1861 attempt to attack the Capitol in order to overturn Lincoln’s election. At the same, time Trumpism as a modern phenomenon also exhibits links and affinities to contemporary global neofascist and rightwing populist movements. Although small towns and rural areas were heavily represented among the participants on 6 January, analysts need—in the spirit of Marx—to avoid the Lassallean trap of writing off rural populations as uniformly conservative. In this sense, we need to grasp the pervasive racism at the root of Trumpism and its analogues without falling into a view of rural areas as monolithic.

Re-reading the history of divorces in terms of territories (France, 1884-1913)

This paper proposes a re-reading of the history of divorces from the re-establishment of divorce in France in 1884 until the eve of the First World War, by distinguishing three major territories: the urban population, the rural population and the Department of the Seine. To refine the analysis, we will add data distinguishing Paris from its suburbs, within the Seine Department. The interest of the analysis, beyond measuring the level of divorces in these territories, is to answer the question of the homogenisation of divorce behaviour between 1884 and 1913. The available sources also provide details on divorces, which are generally unavailable outside the national level, such as which spouse obtained the divorce, the reason for the divorce, the length of the marriage, the age and age difference between the two spouses, and the number of children of divorced couples. In addition to measuring the levels of divorces in these territories, the aim will therefore be to find out whether the characteristics of divorces are the same in the urban and rural populations and in the Seine Department and, if not, to try to understand why they diverge.